


Feel The Light

by orphan_account



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: '00-line and Jeongin are in high school, AND COMFORTING, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Heartbreak, M/M, Pining, Sad, a lot of crying, idk if I will ever finish forgive me, jisung is blind, like really sad, might change the title, minho takes advantage of that, slowburn, there are more ships but hyunsung and minsung are the center
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:06:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23417938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It was like an open door that was waiting for Hyunjin to finally enter, and he thought it would stay open forever - but he was wrong.-Hyunsung soulmate AU in which your hair starts to glow when you are with your soulmate.But Jisung is blind and in a relationship with Minho and Hyunjin is too much of a coward to tell Jisung that he loves him.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Hwang Hyunjin, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 15
Kudos: 49





	1. PROLOGUE

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY SO  
> I have started this soo much time ago when a tweet by my dear Elli inspired me to this (credit of the idea to them! @/10VELLI on twt). I have written a prologue and 3 chapters up until now and I thought I wouldn't write more so I texted them and they liked my ideas of how the story could go AAAND I was hit by a sudden wave of inspiration so... I'm gonna post it! God knows if I will ever keep writing but fvck it. If I see that there are ppl who want to read this I might get more motivation. So I'll just see if there's even an audience to this lmao.
> 
> About the prologue: it might start out kind of randomly but don't worry, it's gonna start with hyunsung in the first chapter and you will understand the meaning of the prologue later on. So don't be too confused!
> 
> Have fun reading <3
> 
> EDIT: Due to the things about Woojin that came to light, I have decided to discontinue this au permanently. I have planned him as a character that's important to the storyline, but as I don't want to give him any attention at all, I can't keep writing this au. This might not come as a surprise, considering I haven't updated this in ages, yet I wanted to give a short statement in case anyone stumbles over this work in the future. I can't bring myself to delete it since I actually really love the idea of it all. Thanks and sorry :(

Woojin was never prepared. Even though he exactly knew that it would happen one day – when it eventually happened, he didn't know what to do. But how would you even prepare yourself for this? It's not like there was a manual that tells you what to do. Woojin wished, there was one and that he would've read it beforehand.

He was at work that day, sitting at the computer, working on music just as usual until late into the night. Heavy bass sounds and dark hip-hop samples were buzzing through his headphones as he was building a beat. He did something different this time; it was the first time he was producing a track for one of the company's rappers.

The volume was so loud, he almost didn't notice someone knocking on the door. "Come in!", he said, putting off his big headphones. A rather small guy entered the studio, his dark hair covered by the hood of his dark sweatshirt and his bangs covering half of his eyes; a timid and tired look was on his eyes.

"Hey... I thought maybe I could take a first listen already?", he asked politely – it was Changbin, the rapper Woojin was producing that track for. He barely knew him as they only had little to none interaction before Woojin had been assigned to work with him.

"Sure, but it's still very rough", Woojin said, plugging out the headphones and letting the beat play loudly. Changbin stepped a little closer, concentrating while listening closely and occasionally mumbling some lines here and there.

"It's already quite good, I really like the beat", Changbin said after the music had ended. "But I think there are some parts that could be done a little better. May I?", he asked, pointing at the screen. 

"Yeah, sure." Woojin nodded at the empty chair next to him. Changbin said down and silently started to adjust some of the parts that he wasn't satisfied with.

Woojin just let him do – he himself actually didn't know much about hip-hop and therefore, he was quite thankful he wasn't completely alone with this. Chan was usually the experienced one in that field who'd produce such tracks. But Chan wasn't there and thus all of his work had been transferred to Woojin, who had been going through so many sleepless nights the past weeks in order to meet the deadlines.

Changbin let the whole instrumental play again when he was finished. "What do you think?", he asked afterward.

"Great job! I was spending hours trying to make the snare sound that smooth and you just did that in like 10 minutes", Woojin laughed. "I'm really impressed."

"Thank you..." And for the first time, Changbin cracked a little smile. "I'll be in the room next door to work on the lyrics", he said while standing up.

"Alright."

Woojin couldn't tell how long he still sat there to work on the track – he fell asleep at one point. He didn't know the time when he was woken up by his phone ringing, but the sun was already starting to rise when he took a quick glance outside of the window. He had to take a moment and rub his eyes before pulling his phone out of his pocket.

Woojin squinted his eyes as he saw an unknown number displayed on the screen. Who was calling him at 4:50 A.M. on a Thursday?

He answered the call. "Hello?"

The caller didn't say anything – but Woojin could clearly hear someone sobbing on the other end of the line, and that's when he slowly sat up straight in his chair. Something wasn't right.

"Who is it?"

"Woojin..." – more sobs – "It's me, Hannah."

His eyes shot open and suddenly, he was wide awake. "Hannah? What's going on? Are you okay?"

She didn't answer, instead, her crying just got heavier.

_Oh no._ He could imagine what had happened, but everything inside of him refused to believe it. _Please don't say it._

"Why are you calling at this hour?"

"Ch... Chan..", she managed to choke out in between her whimpers.

Woojin felt his stomach turn around. _Please, no_.

He could picture her puffy red eyes releasing tears non-stop, as she whispered those little words that made Woojin's heart drop to the ground:

"He's gone."

And he froze. As if the blood in his veins stopped moving, he remained in his position, staring into emptiness. Hannah started crying even harder on the other side but the sound suddenly seemed so distant to him.

"Thanks for calling me", he answered monotonously like a robot before ending the call. 

Hot tears started boiling up. He looked around the empty studio, spotting the computer on the other side – Chan's computer. He had been sitting right there, every single day and night, and now he was just... gone? Woojin couldn't process that.

The last time he had seen him wasn't even 24 hours ago. He had seen his bright eyes. He had heard his soft voice. He had held his warm hand.

And when Woojin had left, he had said goodbye to him for the last time ever.

He broke down entirely, the tears streaming out of eyes silently as he held onto the table. It was unfair. Everything was just so unfair. Chan was the kindest and most hard-working person he has ever met – why him? Why did it always hit the good people? Just why did the universe hate them so much?

"Woojin?"

He startled, looking at Changbin who was peeking inside the room – Woojin hadn't even noticed him opening the door.

"Are you alright? What happened?"

Woojin was wondering why he was even talking to him in the first place since they barely knew each other. He felt awkward letting an almost-stranger see him cry. But then he figured he'd need to tell him what had happened; at the end of the day, Changbin had also known Chan.

"Sit down", Woojin said as he tried wiping his tears with his sleeve. Changbin closed the door and sat down onto the chair again, looking at Woojin nervously.

"You knew Chan had leukemia, right?", he asked after collecting his thoughts.

Changbin nodded carefully.

"Well... he had failed to find a suitable donor."

The rapper lowered his gaze. "He passed away?"

"Yes", Woojin muttered, swallowing.

There was a long pause until Changbin uttered a quiet "I'm sorry."

"It's... it's okay", he said but couldn't stop the tears from coming back and avoided the other boy's eyes. He stared to the ground, making his tears drip onto the floor until he eventually felt a warm hand on his back.

"Hey, uhm...", he heard Changbin say, "I'm there if you need someone, man."


	2. The Light of Eternal Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hyunsung's backstory.

Hyunjin had always been looking at his parents with admiration. The way their hair started to glow when they were around each other, as if their heads got hit by a ray of pure sunlight, and the way it shined even brighter the happier they made each other – for example when his dad leaned down to leave a soft kiss on his mother's cheek. 

_The light of eternal love_. That's what they called it, this glow that your hair radiated whenever you were somewhere near your soulmate. According to an ancient saying, it's supposed to be "the light that guides you out of the darkness and into a life of unlimited happiness". 

Hyunjin had always been amazed by that concept, as his parents were the perfect example of it. Ever since he was little, he couldn't wait to meet his soulmate one day and see his own hair glow up too.

But he would've never guessed that he had already met his soulmate – Han Jisung.

They had always been best, if not better than best friends. Starting with being enemies in kindergarten, they grew into good friends in elementary school and ended up being almost inseparable in middle school. They both were a huge part of each other's life, always being in shit together, but also providing each other emotional support when needed.

And before Hyunjin had even realized himself, he had developed a huge ass crush on his bestie. However, he has never had the guts to confess to Jisung. On one hand, because he was a coward, on the other because they both weren't 16 yet – the glowing hair only worked if both parts were at least 16 years old. So Hyunjin always kept quiet, having thoughts like "What if he doesn't like me in that way? What if he's not my soulmate? Will my real soulmate be mad at me?"

When Hyunjin eventually turned 16 in March, his hair didn't start glowing around Jisung, since the latter was still 15 at that point – but Hyunjin didn't think that far. Instead, he just thought it meant that after all, they weren't soulmates.

Throughout the next six months, Hyunjin had to learn how to cope with his feelings, avoiding them as much as he could and hoping they would just disappear that way – which didn't quite work out of course.

And then it happened. It was a Friday, the 10th of September when Jisung's life suddenly got turned upside down completely. It was an accident that was never supposed to happen. It was supposed to be just a normal chemistry class. Hyunjin was just supposed to pour in some acid. Jisung was just supposed to watch and take notes. But they were both dumb, still blaming themselves for what had happened that day.

Long story short, Hyunjin confused some liquids and Jisung forgot to put on his safety goggles. The glass burst and half of the latter's face got covered by a burning mixture – and so did his eyes.

It wasn't that bad when he was brought to the hospital at first, but his sight got worse as the days passed by and only a few days later – on September 14th, his birthday – the light of his eyes died for good.

No one was in the mood of celebrating his 16th birthday.

Still, Hyunjin couldn't avoid paying him a visit. "You don't wanna see me on your birthday?", he asked him on the phone that day. Jisung wasn't that excited about his choice of words and that was when Hyunjin realized it was probably still too early for blind jokes.

And when Hyunjin entered the hospital room, ready to give Jisung the biggest hug, he saw it. _The light of eternal love._ The way both their hair started to gleam in each other's presence was the first thing Hyunjin had noticed. 

And only _then_ he had found Jisung's blank stare - he would never know. Because even if this light suddenly was shining – Jisung's light was turned off forever.

And Hyunjin couldn't tell him, even days after. Jisung was struggling to adapt to the circumstances, so he thought the news might be too sudden. So he waited. "I'll tell him tomorrow", Hyunjin always said, but he never actually did; he didn't know how. How do you tell your best friend you love him and that you two are soulmates? It felt weird because suddenly it was so real.

And just like that, days turned into months. Months of wanting to confess to Jisung, but never having the balls to do so. "He's my soulmate. He won't run away, right? We're _meant_ to be", Hyunjin always told his friends when they saw their hair shine together. They also never told Jisung; they simply thought they weren't in the position of doing it and waited patiently for Hyunjin to confess to Jisung one day.

It was like an open door that was waiting for Hyunjin to finally enter, and he thought it would stay open forever – but he was wrong.

After Jisung got blind, he joined a support group that was supposed to help him cope with the situation. The group consisted of different people, all hit by their own stroke of fate, and Jisung went there every week.

And that's how he got to know Minho.

Hyunjin had never met him in person at that point, but Jisung would always talk about him; how they always got into a conversation, listening to each other's worries and how Jisung eventually started to like him. Hyunjin thought it was just a meaningless crush, but one evening, after Jisung had come home from meeting Minho, he suddenly got a phone call. "So... we're officially dating!", Jisung had told his best friend.

And Hyunjin's world began to shatter. _But... But_ we _are soulmates!_ , he thought. _Or is it possible that a person can have multiple soulmates? No way,_ he quickly erased that thought.

It was very awkward when Hyunjin met Minho for the first time. Hyunjin was approaching the couple and the closer he came to Jisung, the more unamused Minho's face was becoming. "Hyunjin? Is that you?", Jisung asked when he came to a halt in front of them without saying a word, just looking at Minho ashamedly; the latter was eyeing him with nothing but pure disgust.

They spent the day at the city, Minho und Hyunjin acting like everything was normal, until they sat down at a restaurant and Jisung was gone to the restroom, leaving the other two alone at the table.

"Listen", Minho said, firmly looking into Hyunjin's eyes. "He likes me, I like him and we are very happy together. I don't know why you never told him, but please, don't ever ruin this, understood?"

Hyunjin nodded in an instant, assuring him there was "nothing to worry about" since "he wasn't even interested in Jisung that way" – which obviously was a lie, but he was too intimidated by Minho that he didn't even dare to say anything else at that point.

And suddenly, the door had been closed – and Hyunjin felt like he had lost his chance forever.

  
—

  
Hyunjin had learned that the hardest part about being your bestie's soulmate was being in public with him. No matter where the two went, strangers would always look at them in awe, assuming they were a couple, especially when Hyunjin was holding Jisung's hand because he needed to guide him. And so it was today, on a mild day in February 2019.

It was early in the morning when they were on their way to school together, Jisung's brown hair shimmering like a tree in autumn hit by the daylight. Hyunjin still remembered the first time he saw it shining; Jisung had been blonde back then, sitting all alone in that dark hospital room, but his hair was enough to illuminate the whole room in warm rays of gold – he had looked like a real angel from heaven.

Jisung's hand felt warm in his and their fingers were intertwined – Jisung preferred it that way because it made him feel safer. In the beginning, his parents would offer to drive him to school but he'd always reject and walk with Hyunjin instead. If he could keep his old routine, he wouldn't feel that much different than before the accident, he always said, and everyone respected that as long as he was safe enough.

They didn't even enter the building and Hyunjin already saw Jeongin running towards them. "Guys! Hey", he greeted them when they met in the middle of the hallway. 

"Hey", Jisung said, naturally turning to the direction he heard the voice coming from.

"Soo... are you guys free this Saturday?"

"I don't know, I think so", Hyunjin answered. "Why?"

"Bro... You know what day Saturday is, right?", Jeongin asked, crossing his arms.

"Crap!", Jisung uttered. "It's your birthday..."

" _Crap?_ What's that supposed to mean? Did you seriously forget about my birthday?", Jeongin asked kind of sadly.

"No, no that's not it!", Jisung assured him immediately. "It's just... what time do you want us to be there?"

"I don't know, like four PM?"

"Uhh... Is it okay if I show up a little later? Like seven or eight?", Jisung asked carefully.

"Have you already planned anything?", Hyunjin wanted to know.

"Kinda..." Jisung scratched the back of his head. "Minho and I have our second anniversary on Saturday and we wanted to have dinner together."

"Oh, sure, no problem!", Jeongin said. "You can come over whenever you want."

"Great, thank you." Jisung turned to Hyunjin. "Can you bring me to my class already? The teacher wanted to talk to me about something before first period."

Jisung's schedule looked a little different since he had to take special classes because of his disability. But Hyunjin wasn't listening, his mind was too busy wondering how he had managed to suppress his feelings for more than two years already.

"Hyunjin?" Jisung felt his Hand tense. "Is something wrong?"

Hyunjin snapped back to reality. "Oh no, let's go", he said, dragging Jisung to his class. "I'll be right back, Jeongin!"

"Is really everything alright?", Jisung asked again as they were walking.

"Yeah, I was just distracted because I was looking at my phone", Hyunjin lied. He hated to lie to Jisung in cases like those since it kind of took advantage of his blindness but he didn't know how else to explain himself in that situation.

"Oh, sorry..." 

_Don't say that,_ Hyunjin thought. "We're there", he said when they came to a halt in front of the right room.

"Thanks", Jisung said, letting go of his best friend's hand for the first time today. "See you later at lunch!"

"Are you sure about that?", Hyunjin had to hold in a chuckle.

"Fine, _hear_ you later at lunch", Jisung corrected himself smirking, before stepping into the open door.

Hyunjin was still standing there and looking after him, smiling to himself. Jisung didn't mind the blind jokes, he did them himself all the time. They were a coping mechanism; that way Jisung was able to laugh about it and take the whole thing lighter than it actually was.

"You're so whipped."

Hyunjin turned around only to find Seungmin standing behind him, giving him a judging look as always.

"Really?" Hyunjin made his way back to Jeongin, Seungmin following him. "Thanks for telling me, I almost didn't notice", he uttered sarcastically.

"Seriously Hyunjin, confess to him already!"

"No, are you nuts?" 

"You can't avoid your feelings forever!"

"Seungmin", Hyunjin sighed. "We both know that he's in a relationship with another guy. It's too late, okay? I had my chance and I fucked up."

They picked up Jeongin and went to their own class together. "Come on, how often have we already told you that it's never too late?", Seungmin tried again.

"Well apparently now it is", Hyunjin mumbled.

"No, I don't believe that", Jeongin said. "You guys are freaking _soulmates_. You are _meant_ to be. You used to use that excuse all the time to avoid confessing to him and now you're using the fact that he's with Minho."

"Shut up, both of you!", Hyunjin suddenly snapped. "Minho makes him very happy, so why should I destroy that happiness all of a sudden and make it unnecessarily complicated because of my egoistic feelings? Not all soulmates are supposed to end up in a relationship, you know?"

"How do you even know that he's so happy with Minho?", Seungmin argued back. "Maybe if Jisung at least knew that you are his actual soulmate and Minho has been lying to him, he'd consider dropping Minho for you..."

"Don't be ridiculous." Hyunjin rolled his eyes. "Minho's going to end me if I tell Jisung the truth."

"This situation is so messed up", Jeongin remarked.

"It's pretty okay if you ask me", Hyunjin shrugged. "Could be worse."

" _Okay?_ " Seungmin was on the verge of freaking out. "That Minho guy is taking advantage of Jisung's disability, claiming to be his soulmate and you say it's _okay?!_ "

"Can we please just go to class now?" Hyunjin wasn't in the mood of talking about it all over again. Avoiding the whole issue and pretending to be fine with it was his way of dealing with it – it has always been like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like the idea and concept as much as I do!!  
> Might update within the next days so stay tuned~
> 
> (Please leave some comments if you read this story plz I need validation ok)


	3. I can show you the world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Jeongin's birthday, but Jisung gets a present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapters will be a little longer from now on lol. enjoy!

"Happy second anniversary!"

Jisung was smiling as he got showered in kisses, standing outside of his favorite restaurant, while two familiar hands were holding his freezing cheeks. It was a cold day in early February but he still felt warm whenever he was with Minho – his one and only soulmate.

"Let's get inside, shall we?", the latter said, taking Jisung's hand and guiding him towards the entrance. He heard a bell ring upon opening the door and got hit by a wave of warmth when stepping inside the barbecue place.

After sitting down and telling their order to a waitress, they were holding hands again and chatting about this and that. "You know what?", Jisung asked at one point.

"What?"

"Even though I can't see the light – you know, our hair – I can still _feel_ it, you know?", he told Minho for the first time ever. "I just know it's definitely there."

"Really?", Minho asked in surprise and disbelief. "And... What does it feel like?"

"Like..." Jisung tried to find the right words. "I don't know, it's just a very warm and pleasant feeling on my scalp; as if it gets hit by sunlight whenever you're around me."

"Wow..." He knew Minho was smiling right now.

"Is that weird?", Jisung asked hesitantly.

"No, no! Not at all", his boyfriend reassured him. "I... I also feel it, I just didn't know that it's normal."

Jisung had to smile too. "Isn't that super awesome? As if fate knows that there are people that need to use a different sense in order to find their soulmate... people like me."

"Yeah..."

"Honestly, I think fate has a plan for all of us", Jisung told him truthfully. "Like on one hand, of course, I never wanted to become blind, but on the other... I wouldn't have met you if that accident had never happened."

"What? Are you serious?" Minho's hands tightened around Jisung's. "You're putting our relationship over your sight?"

"Yeah!", he uttered proudly. "Of course I never asked for it, but that's just how it is now. I can't turn back time but at least you are here to make it at less bad, you know?"

There was no answer, just silence. It always made Jisung feel insecure when there was a sudden silence in a conversation. He couldn't read the other person's emotions or even tell if they had left because they had become tired of his blabbering. However, as he was holding Minho's hands, he knew he was still there.

"Minho... please say something..."

"But...", he finally uttered. "If you had the chance to travel back in time to prevent that accident... You would do it, right?"

"No", Jisung said truthfully – Minho's hands tensed. "I wouldn't want to lose you."

Silence again.

"Minho...?"

"I... I have a present for you", he suddenly said.

Jisung let out a laugh. "You got a time machine?"

"Not exactly", he said quietly.

"Wait, you're serious?", Jisung asked, his laugh fading. "Didn't we agree on not buying any gifts for anniversaries?"

"I know, I know... But you just can't reject it, I don't even want anything in return!"

"Babe...", Jisung sighed in disappointment.

"Please, just look at it first, okay?"

"Ha ha", he said sarcastically. "I can't even _look_ at it, genius."

Minho rolled his eyes – Jisung didn't see, he just knew. As much as he loved to do this type of jokes, he knew Minho hated them.

He felt Minho let go of his hands. "Come on, open your hands", he demanded, and Jisung complied without complaining. Then he felt something light being put into his hands and he tried to feel it – _wait what?_

"Minho... Is that money?"

"Yeah, but do you know how much it is?"

Jisung frowned, letting his fingers slide over the surface of the bill again. Normally, he was able to tell the worth of it by touching, but not this time. "Is that even Korean Won?"

"Nope", he answered with a smirk.

Jisung was confused. "What is this?"

"Sweetie, you are holding a bill of 500 US-dollars in your hands right now."

"Oh", he uttered, being surprised at holding so much money, but not really knowing what to do with that information. "But why are you giving me money... in US-dollar?"

"You know", Minho started to explain, "that's not exactly _all_ of the money. Those 500 dollars are just... a very little part of it."

"Minho... What is going on?"

"So, remember last year around that time, when you were offered that special treatment for your eyes by some doctors in the US?"

"Wait, what?" Jisung couldn't believe what he just said. "I told you not to talk about that again!"

Of course, he remembered it. Doctors have found a way to get blind people their sight back – or at least people that got blind the way Jisung did. It required a few surgeries and other treatments, which would all happen in a time span of eight months, and there was a very high success rate.

Jisung had been offered that treatment some time ago, shortly after the incident had happened. All his hopes got built up, he thought he was the luckiest person alive when he found out about it. But the problems were the costs; the surgeries themselves were expensive enough, but in addition to that, he would have to move to New York for those 8 months at least – but his family couldn't even afford a blind dog. So his hopes died, and he asked everyone not to mention it again or he'll fall into depression again, just like he did when it all started.

"Yes, yes, but hear me out!", Minho tried to calm him down. "After you told me back then that your family isn't able to carry the costs, I did something..."

"Did what?", Jisung asked bitchy.

"I started a fundraising for your treatment and... it hit the goal a few days ago."

Silence, but this time because Jisung couldn't say anything. "Is this a sick joke?", he shakily asked.

"No, it's not." Minho removed the bill and placed his hands into Jisung's hands again. "This past year I've collected 18.000 dollars, Jisung", he explained slowly.

He could feel the tears boiling up. "I swear if this is just a big ass prank-"

"It's not! Here." Minho handed him the dollar bill again. "This is real money. I would never joke about a topic that is so sensitive to you. It's all _real_ , okay?"

Jisung couldn't talk. 

"I already talked to your parents about it." He paused, leaning in closer. "Jisung... What would you say if we moved to New York together?"

No response.

"Not just for the time of your treatment, but like... permanently, after you're graduating soon. We could both go to college there, leave all the pain here behind and start all over again. Just imagine, you could have a completely new beginning. In freaking _New York_. What do you say?"

Jisung felt as if his stare just went even more blank than it already was and he still couldn't say anything. He couldn't process anything Minho was saying. It felt like a dream, and he hoped to wake up as soon as possible so he wouldn't have time to rebuild any hope.

And then, all of a sudden, Minho began to sing.

_"I can show you the world_

_Shining shimmering splendid_

_Tell me, my prince, now when did you last let your heart decide?"_

And that was enough to push Jisung over the edge and make the tears roll. His mouth turned into a smile, and he felt Minho's hands around his face, wiping away the tears, as his sweet voice filled up Jisung's ears and touched something deeper inside of him - _hope._

_"I can open your eyes_

_Take you wonder by wonder_

_Over sideways and under on a magic carpet ride."_

He couldn't stop crying. He didn't know why, but it suddenly hit him; hope to get his eyesight back, hope to function normally again, hope to _see the world_ one day.

_"A whole new world_

_a new fantastic point of view..."_

_"No one to tell us no"_ , Jisung decided to sing the last lines,

_"Or where to go_

_Or say we're only dreaming."_

Because this was what it felt like: a dream. How was this real? It couldn't be real, right? It was too good to be real.

However, upon saying these words out loud and remembering the foreign feeling of the dollar bill in his hands, he felt nothing but confidence. He suddenly was so optimistic it will definitely work out – it just has to.

He put his hands onto Minho's face, leaning in to leave a soft and meaningful kiss on his lips. He felt his boyfriend's genuine smile.

"Let's do this", Jisung whispered eventually, his forehead against his soulmate's.

–

It was 8 PM when Hyunjin caught himself checking the time for the umpteenth time this evening. Jisung still wasn't there, and even though he knew he probably was with Minho right now, doing God knows what, he couldn't help but worry, biting his lower lip to the point it started hurting.

"Hyunjin!" Seungmin caught him. "Stop looking at the clock, for god's sake. I know what you're thinking about."

"I'm sorry", he sighed, forcing himself to look away.

"You have been kinda off the whole evening, at least _try_ to distract yourself and enjoy this, okay?", Seungmin tried to comfort Hyunjin, massaging his shoulder. "He's safe, he's probably just running a little late-"

He was cut off by the doorbell suddenly ringing. "Oh, must be Jisung", Jeongin said and got up from the couch to open the door. Hyunjin jumped right off his seat, ignoring Seungmin completely as he ran behind Jeongin to follow him. His heart beating excitedly, Hyunjin watched the heavy front door as it was being opened by Jeongin...

But what they saw wasn't Jisung.

"Felix?!", Jeongin uttered.

"...Surprise?", the deep-voiced Aussie said with a huge grin plastered to his face.

"Oh my god!" Jeongin tackled the surprise guest with a tight hug immediately, making him stumble backward and almost falling to the floor. "I was joking when I said you should come over!", he said after they let go.

"Come on, it's no problem!", Felix said.

" _No problem?_ Felix, you literally flew all the way from Sydney to Seoul!"

"Uhh yeah, I guess I did?", the small, freckled boy just giggled.

Felix used to be an Australian exchange student in Korea for a few years. They became good friends with him and got pretty close during that time. Now there might be a distance between them, but it never made the connection to Felix become weaker in any way – at the end of the day, they loved playing Fortnite all together (even if Felix sucked at it). But well, when they were talking about Jeongin's birthday in their discord channel the other day, and Jeongin jokingly invited Felix to "come over as well", no one expected him to actually show up.

"Hyunjin!", Felix eventually noticed the other boy standing in the hallway and gave him a tight embrace as well.

"Hi, wow...", Hyunjin said. He was equally as surprised as Jeongin but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed... Because he had expected someone else.

The other two boys quickly went inside, and just as Hyunjin was about to close the front door and follow them, he noticed a car pulling over into the driveway – Minho's car.

Hyunjin could hear the other guys yelling like crazy because Felix entered the room, but his only attention was on the couple walking up to the front door while holding hands. Minho had already noticed him standing there and gave him a death glare, just as he'd always do when he saw Hyunjin – Minho couldn't stand the picture of his and his boyfriend's hair glowing next to each other.

"Hey, Hyunjin!", Minho faked being polite and nice. Hyunjin never understood how he always managed to sound so natural while his face literally looked like he wanted to stab Hyunjin right then and there.

"Hey", he said back as nervous as he always was when Minho was around.

"Oh, Hyunjin?", Jisung wondered, facing said boy. "Hi, I'm so sorry we took a little longer..."

"Ah, it's no problem", Hyunjin lied. "At least you're here now."

Jisung was about to let go of Minho's hand to grab Hyunjin's instead, when Minho suddenly pulled him back, leaving a deep kiss on his lips. Oh, how he loved to do that in front of Hyunjin; he loved to assert his dominance right in front of his nose, marking his territory and showing Hyunjin that Jisung belonged to _him_ and him only.

He was an asshole.

"Have fun, baby", Minho whispered softly.

"Thanks", Jisung smiled before he could let him go for real and Hyunjin had to take the lead now. They walked inside and Minho kept standing there, watching every step they made until they had closed the door.

Now that he was gone, Hyunjin could finally breathe again. In Minho's presence, he always felt like he was being watched by a CCTV camera, waiting for him to make even one mistake so he could be arrested on the spot. He sighed mentally, looking at the soft, bright strands of hair on Jisung's head.

_If I had only confessed to you earlier..._

"Oh my god, I can't hold it back any longer", Jisung said all of a sudden, stopping in the middle of the hallway and turning to his best friend - only now Hyunjin realized Jisung's hands were trembling a little. "I really need to tell you right now!"

"W-what? Tell me what?", Hyunjin stuttered, taken aback.

Jisung was smiling so widely and genuinely – Hyunjin couldn't tell when he had seen him smile like that the last time. "The reason why I'm late."

"Huh?", Hyunjin blinked. "Don't you wanna see the others first and rather explain to Jeongin?", he asked, even if he was kind of curious himself.

"No... I don't want to make myself the center of attention, you know, since it's _his_ birthday, and I just want you to be the first one to know."

Now Hyunjin _really_ wanted to know what was going on. "Okay, what is it...?", he asked, confused about why it was such a big thing

Jisung took a deep breath as he seemed to collect his thoughts. "So...", he started hesitantly, exhaling shakily, "do you remember back then when I was offered that special treatment for my eyes by some doctors in the US?"

Hyunjin frowned. "That treatment you told us to never mention again?", he wondered. Why was he bringing this up now?

"Yeah...", Jisung recalled. "Exactly that."

For some reason, Hyunjin didn't like where this was going. "What about it?"

"Listen... I know it sounds ridiculous, I also couldn't believe it at first. But Minho has collected a lot of money, so he'll be able to carry all of the costs and...", he paused, grinning, "I will do it."

Hyunjin stared at him in confusion. Too many questions popped up inside his head and he couldn't really process what Jisung was saying. But at the end of that chain of questions, there was one fact that stood out the most and that made Hyunjin snap back into reality.

Jisung will _see_ again.

"Oh my god", Hyunjin exhaled. "Jisung I swear if you're only telling bullshit-"

"I'm not! You know I would never joke about this."

Hyunjin eyed him attentively, noticing his slightly reddish eyes only now – he had been crying. He _was_ serious.

"Oh my god, Jisung", Hyunjin whispered, embracing him tightly. "I'm so happy for you! That's just..."

And then he realized something. He said _Minho_ gave him the money. Minho – the one who used his blindness in order to make him believe they're soulmates – now gave him money... to get rid of Jisung's disability. And Jisung would see; he would see his hair glowing next to Hyunjin's; he would see who's his actual soulmate; he would see all the lies Minho had based their relationship on. He would see it all. 

It didn't add up. Why would Minho do that?

"...amazing."

"Thank you, but... there's actually one more thing you need to know", Jisung hesitated.

_Oh, here it comes._

He sighed heavily. "Minho asked me to move to New York with him... permanently."

Hyunjin suddenly couldn't speak. His mouth went sore and his stomach started to twist. His brain couldn't process the words, yet his body showed this kind of reaction.

"Or at least for university! You know, since our graduation is this summer."

He still couldn't answer.

"Minho said, we shall leave the bad memories here behind and start over again..."

_Of course, you two will have a restart. and I? You'll leave me behind with more pain than ever._

"Hyunjin, please say something", Jisung begged.

But he couldn't. Instead, his mind was busy putting the puzzle pieces together until it made sense. And it did: Of course, Minho wouldn't want Jisung to see everything. Of course, he wanted to keep him. And how would he achieve that?

By making Jisung move very far away from Hyunjin, for a time and distance long enough to make him forget about his best friend eventually.

_Lee Minho, you're the devil himself._

"Are you still there?" Jisung reached out his hand, softly touching Hyunjin's chest.

"Yeah", he answered on the verge of tears, taking his hand and rubbing his knuckles comfortingly. "I'm still here."

"I'm sorry, Hyunjin... Really, I'm..."

"No, don't be sorry", he whispered. "It's okay."

_It wasn't._

"Really?", Jisung asked, his big eyes sparkling.

_No._

"Really. If that's what you truly desire... I won't be in your way", Hyunjin explained.

Jisung flashed that mega smile again before hugging him tightly. "You're the bestest friend I could ask for."

But you deserved way better.

"Now excuse me", Hyunjin said after they let go and placed Jisung in front of the living room door. "I have to go to the bathroom real quick."

-

Felix flopped himself onto the couch exhausted, the controller slipping out of his hands, an annoyed groan escaping his lungs and his eyes closed dramatically as if he had just experienced the most painful thing ever. "I can't believe I left Australia just to lose in another round of Mario Kart."

"A loser", Jeongin emphasized, "stays a loser. No matter where you are."

Felix pushed his lower lip forward, pretending to be hurt by his words. "I didn't like this game anyways."

"Then pass the controller, loser", Seungmin said, snatching said controller from where it was lying next to his old friend and started a new round against Jeongin. "Let me show you how it goes."

Felix rolled his eyes, sitting back in the couch. "If you insist..."

He wasn't hurt by any means though - in fact, he had missed his freinds a lot. Last time they had seen each other was last year during summer vacation but it almost felt like _ages_.

"Hey, uh", Felix suddenly said with a curious undertone. "Isn't Jisung coming today?"

"He said he'd come later", Jeongin answered without taking his eyes from the screen when the new round started that moment. "He's having dinner with his _boyfriend._ "

"Oh. So Jisung is still with Minho, huh?", Felix concluded from the weird intonation with which Jeongin had spitted out the word "boyfriend".

"Yup", Seungmin confirmed. "It's their second anniversary already, can you believe that?"

Felix sighed. There was this silent angreement between them that they all collectively hated Minho for the things he was doing - without Jisung's knowledge, of course.

"How's Hyunjin coping?", he wondered.

"Not good", Seungmin sighed. "I bet the poor boy is crying himself to sleep every night at this point."

"Speaking of which: where did Hyunjin go?", Jeongin asked.

"Didn't he come with you to open the door?", Seungmin asked back.

"Yeah, I even greeted him", Felix said, nodding towards the door.

As if on cue, the door of the living room suddenly opened - but instead of the person they all expected, a smiley Jisung stumbled into the room.

"Wait, you're not Hyunjin", Felix realized but couldn't hide a grin behind that statement.

Jisung suddenly stood still. "Felix?", he asked, equally confused but also surprised to hear his old friend's voice speak.

"Jisung? Since when are you here?", Jeongin wondered, pausing the game.

"Oh, Hyunjin opened the door for me a few minutes ago", he said, cautiously walking over to the couch and finding an empty spot next to Seungmin where Hyunjin had been sitting before.

"And where is _Hyunjin_ now?"

"In the bathroom", Jisung shrugged. "Hey Felix!", he said cheerfully and hugged his friends sitting next to him. "Back to the topic: What are _you_ doing here?"

"Well, Jeongin invited me and I'm on vacation at the moment, so why not take a spontaneous flight to Seoul, right?"

"No need to flex, rich boy", Jisung laughed. "But it's cool to see you again."

" _See_ me again, Jisung? Really?", Felix teased his choice of words.

"Whatever! You know what I mean." He smacked his friend's arm as they all simultaneously errupted into laughter.

Their laughter didn't last very long though; it died down all of the sudden when they heard a loud noise - almost as if someone was kicking a door - coming from the hallway.

"What was that?", Jisung asked after flinching harder than he would have probably admitted.

Seungmin stood up quickly. "Wait a minute, I'll look for Hyunjin."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Toughts? Suspicions? Please comment!
> 
> It's only the second chapter but there's already so much drama huh. i hope it all makes sense and that it's not too random or anything,, and yes i included "a whole new world" LET ME BE CHEESY
> 
> Also I'm so happy to see there are people who want to read this! ilyall mwah <3


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